News Corp. Bribery Probe Leads to U.K. Health Worker Arrest

June 28 (Bloomberg) -- News Corp.’s tabloid bribery scandal
in Britain led to the arrest today of a former employee of the
U.K.’s National Health Service, the state-funded medical system.
Three dozen people have been detained in the probe.

A 31-year-old man was arrested at his home in Uxbridge, on
the outskirts of London, on suspicion of conspiracy to cause
misconduct in a public office, the Metropolitan Police Service
said in a statement, without identifying him. The investigation
involves public employees selling information to journalists.

The probe, known as Operation Elveden, is running parallel
to investigations into phone hacking and computer hacking by
reporters and editors at News Corp.’s now-defunct News of the
World tabloid and the Sun newspaper, Britain’s best-selling
daily title. The bribery arrests have focused on the Sun.

More than 50 people have been arrested in probes that are
underway as New York-based News Corp. considers splitting the
company to separate its publishing unit. Rebekah Brooks, the
former chief executive officer of News Corp.’s U.K. unit, was
charged last month with perverting the course of justice in the
phone-hacking case. She has denied the claims.

A spokesman for the U.K. Department of Health, which
oversees the NHS, declined to comment on the arrest, citing the
organization’s policy on ongoing criminal investigations. He
asked not to be identified, citing the same policy.

The NHS was previously caught up in the News Corp. scandal
after former Prime Minister Gordon Brown told a media-ethics
inquiry earlier this month that the Sun wrongfully accessed his
son’s medical records to report the child being diagnosed with
cystic fibrosis. He said the NHS in Fife, Scotland, had
apologized to him over a likely leak by its staff.

Brown disputed claims by Brooks at the same inquiry that
she obtained his permission to run the story.